We Can Work It Out
by Marie S Zachary
Summary: Leland and Karen discuss the problems they have in their marriage and they try to work it out. Some very interesting twists and surprises happen at different points in the story. Rated K for mention of character death


Disclaimer: I own Monk. No really I do. Yes I absolutely do

((The first four seasions of it on DVD...lol))

* * *

One day after Karen and Leland separated Leland realized he couldn't take it anymore. He loved his wife. He had to get her back. So he called her up on the phone.  
"Hello Leland"  
"Karen we need to talk. How about we meet at the café at 7 o'clock?"  
She hesitated  
"Karen please. This is really important to me"  
Karen sighed  
"Okay but I don't see what difference that's going to make"  
"I- we need to talk"  
That night Karen and Leland met at the café.  
"What's up," Karen asked  
"Karen," Leland said, "What happened to us. I love you. I still love you"  
"It's complicated," she said, "I love you too but love is only a part of a successful marriage. Trust is the other part. Four years ago when you stopped trusting me I realized that we couldn't have a relationship anymore."  
"That's what this is all about?"  
"Yes. Leland how can I have a relationship with a man that is supposed to love me but can't trust me"  
"Karen everything pointed to you"  
"And 3 years before that everything pointed to a friend of ours but **her husband **didn't believe for a second that she did it"  
"I understand that but how would it look if-"  
"That's another point. Why do you care what other people think"  
"Most people do"  
"Why? How could it possibly matter what other people think?"  
"You couldn't understand"  
"That is the third point. Do I make fun of your ideas?"  
"No never"  
"Do I knock it down when you have an idea or a thought?"  
"Of course not"  
"So what makes you think it's okay for you to know me down"  
"It's not okay," Leland admitted, "it's just not always so easy to appreciate the inner mind workings of someone as intelligent as you. I have common sense. You look beyond your eyes"  
"It wouldn't work," she said, "we have nothing in common. I feel like we're always at odds with each other"  
"We have a lot in common," Leland said, "we both love the kids"  
"You think it's okay to get mad and I'm against it"  
"Yeah but I listen to you don't I"  
"Begrudgingly"  
"We both love theater"  
"You like drama I like musicals"  
"That's okay. I like musicals too"  
"You always make fun of musicals"  
"Well I just don't get the point of breaking out into song all the time but I do like it"  
"Leland do I look stupid"  
"We both want the boys to do well in school"  
"Yes," she sighed, "that's true"  
"We both miss Jennifer"  
Jennifer was their firstborn child. She was taken by the heavenly Father seven years ago. She was in an accident. Well someone else was in an accident and she happened to have been in the same car. The driver died 20 minutes after the incident happened. Jennifer hung on for days but she was hurt far too badly and unable to recover.

"Yes and you blame me for letting her go in the car that day," Karen said, "how the hell was I supposed to know some idiot would put a bomb in the car and kill both my best friend and my daughter"  
"What? You think I blame you?"  
"Of course you blame me," Karen said, "I see it in your eyes"  
"See it in my eyes? Oh… that's what you think that's all about"  
"Wouldn't you? I was the one that let her go in the car that day. I was the one that made them turn off her life support. I was the one that killed our daughter"  
"Karen no! You would NOT the one that killed our daughter any more then you were the one that killed Trudy. Our daughter was killed by some jackass and I know you hate the word but that's what he is. Our daughter was killed because some idiot decided that it was okay to put a bomb in the car"  
"Then why did you act the way you did 4 years ago," Karen challenged  
"I… don't know. I was angry but not at you. I was angry because of the hell I was going through. I guess I thought that you would have been angry enough to do something like that"  
"And Leland I wanted to," she said, "with every depth of my soul I wanted to. That was why I couldn't do it"  
"Huh and I repeat huh?"  
"Because of that bastard… or bitch I lost my best friend and I lost my daughter. I was **not **going to let that prick cost me my sanity too"  
"Karen," Leland asked, "D-do you still love me"  
"I'll always love you," she told him, "but I can't trust you to trust me"  
"I do trust you"  
"If you trusted me you wouldn't make fun of my ideas"  
"KAREN YOU DON'T KNOW THE THINGS I KNOW"  
"Leland don't you dare yell at me. You're right I don't know the things you know but you don't know the things I know and I don't make fun of you for your ideas."  
Leland checked and calmed himself  
"I didn't mean it like that,"  
"I know but you don't think about how people are feeling."  
"Karen I can't be without you"  
"Yes you can Leland. You'll be fine"  
"What about the boys? They need both their parents"  
"This it for the best"  
"NO IT'S NOT"  
"Yes Leland it is. I know that you don't think so right now. But we have to think about what's best for the kids and best for us"  
"I love you"  
"And I love you"  
"Isn't there any way we can work it out"  
"It'll take a lot of work"  
"I know but-"  
"Maybe one day we will be able to. When you see how I'm feeling-"  
"I do see," Leland said, "I'm in a prison of my own misery right now. You're the only one that holds the key"  
Karen looked up at smiled  
"That's very beautiful," she said, "and really poetic"  
"Thanks"  
"Where did you hear it?"  
"It's my own words Karen," he told her, "it's my own feelings"  
"Those were your own words? I'm impressed"

Leland and Karen went to marriage counseling again and they were able to work it out. They got back together 3 years later on the anniversary of Jennifer's passing. They figured some good ought come from the tragedy.


End file.
